South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) research associate Angela Kariuki, speaking at the Nuclearisation of Africa symposium, in Kempton Park, last month, said that, in 2014, the commission compiled a report on the issues and challenges related to unregulated artisanal mining in South Africa based on these hearings. She said that the hearings revealed that, in South Africa, artisanal mining was not legally recognised, despite its growth and the potential opportunities it offered, economically and socially. Article based on presentations delivered at the Nuclearisation of Africa Symposium.

Over the past five years, the work and interventions of the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) in the environment, natural resources and rural development arena has focused increasingly on the impact of mining activities on the environment and human rights. The commission has convened dialogues, workshops, meetings, hearings and investigations into the environmental, social and governance issues related to the management of acid mine drainage, business and human rights in the context of extractive industries.

Special emphasis has been placed by the SAHRC on the mining sector’s role in public participation in local economic development, planning in rural areas and work related to land reform for improved livelihoods in rural South Africa. Additionally, in line with its constitutional and legislative mandate, the SAHRC convened investigative hearings in light of growing reports, in both number and severity, of illegal mining activities across the country. SAHRC research associate Angela Kariuki, speaking at the Nuclearisation of Africa symposium, in Kempton Park, last month, said that, in 2014, the commission compiled a report on the issues and challenges related to unregulated artisanal mining in South Africa based on these hearings. She said that the hearings revealed that, in South Africa, artisanal mining was not legally recognised, despite its growth and the potential opportunities it offered, economically and socially. Further, Kariuki pointed out that these unregulated activities were synonymous with social, health and environmental ills, which made them even more challenging to condone and manage.

“It appears that the challenges related to unregulated artisanal mining in South Africa and the problematic implications of not dealing with them are acknowledged,” she stated. Kariuki noted that the complexity of the issue was compounded by the lack of research and literature on artisanal mining in South Africa. Further, she said, there was a poor understanding of the profile of the artisanal miner in South Africa.

“Not all of these individuals and groups are involved in or, if they are, began the activity with the intention of becoming involved in criminal syndicates. Not all host mining communities have the same views around artisanal mining activity. Not all are non-nationals and neither are they all illegal immigrants,” Kariuki stressed.

She further pointed out that the current socioeconomic situation in many parts of Gauteng had pushed many people into illegal mining activities. Kariuki highlighted that all respondents had submitted that illegal mining practices happened outside of the South African legal framework, particularly the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act (MPRDA). She explained that the MPRDA catered for medium- to large-scale mines and small-scale operators. Kariuki stated that current mining enabling legislation did not adequately provide for artisanal mining.

The Department of Mineral Resources (DMR) also indicated that the MPRDA could provide permits for artisanal miners, but that, in practice, regulation had not promoted the growth of legal artisanal mining. Further, Kariuki stated that the DMR and various government departments had failed to prevent criminal and dangerous practices. “Certain artisanal mining activities, such as the use of mercury and working in dangerous shafts, cannot and should not be tolerated.

On the other hand, there are artisanal mining processes that have the potential to enable job creation and support informal trade and other local economic activities,” she said. Kariuki commented that the SAHRC had made some findings and provided recommendations about the status of artisanal mining in South Africa. Some of those findings concerned the extent to which illegality pervaded the whole mining industry, and recommendations for the improvement of the situation included the need for future strategic research into artisanal mining in South Africa.

The commission noted that there was a need for “a holistic, collaborative approach” by all role-players, namely government, civil society and mining houses, to address the opportunities and challenges posed by unregulated artisanal mining. The SAHRC said that there was a need for an appropriate, consistent and transparent policy and regulatory framework that focused on facilitation and management of artisanal mining in South Africa and not just the criminalisation of the activities. The commission also stated that there was a need for government to recognise the potential value that lay in large-scale miners’ building relationships and partnerships with artisanal miners. Additionally, the SAHRC said there was an “urgent need” for programmes for artisanal mining communities across South Africa to raise awareness about the human and environmental dangers of unsafe artisanal mining, such as the dangers of mercury use.

The Federation for a Sustainable Environment co-hosted the recent Nuclearisation of Africa Conference. The event brought together experts and interested parties on matters relating to nuclear energy, waste and mining of radio-active material.

Prof. Nidecker of Radiology, University of Basel, Switzerland. Past president and board member of PSR / IPPNW Switzerland is interviewed along with independent international consultant on energy and nuclear policy releases, Co-author of yearly world Nuclear Industry Status Report, Mycle Schneider. In this podcast they highlight topics and insights from the Symposium, "Nuclearisation of Africa".

Federation For a Sustainable Environment « Nuclearisation of Africa » Symposium 19. Nov 2015 There is a clear global downtrend in the civil use of nuclear power, as documented by the annual World Nuclear Industry Status Report and as discussed at the international Symposium on « Nuclearisation of Africa » concluded on the 19th of November in Johannesburg.

Sheree Bega, a multi award winning journalist, of Saturday Star, South Africa’s leading weekend paper, wrote an excellent article titled “Nuclear waste ‘dangerous for millennia, even millions of years, cannot be shut off”. The article was published yesterday in the Saturday Star.

The world has become sober to the unimaginable power of uranium after Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the nuclear accidents at Three Mile Island, Chernobyl and recently, Fukushima.A new set of serious health problems, collectively known as Gulf War Syndrome, and epidemiological data from the Wismut cohort have become available to researchers.

Uranium mining can have detrimental effects on the health of the miners and their families. An interdisciplinary team of doctors and scientists will report on this and on efforts of the nuclear industry to promote the civilian use of nuclear power in Africa at a Symposium in Johannesburg, South Africa from 16th to 19th November 2015.

On 25 June 2014 the National Nuclear Regulator (NNR) had a quarterly meeting with several Non-Governmental Organisations to discuss matters of concern. During this meeting, a presentation was made by Ms M Liefferink, Chief Executive Officer of the Federation for a Sustainable Environment (FSE). Ms Liefferink requested response from the NNR on a number of concerns previously raised. These were documented and the NNR provided a written response.

The immediate case of the disaster at Fukushima may have been a natural once, but the official report to Japan's parliament says the ultimate culprit was a weak regulation - a lesson South Africa cannot afford to ignore.

FACIAL TREATMENT: Patience Mjadu, 44 inside her shack in Tudor Shaft informal settlement, with her face smeared with toxic soil from mining waste mixed with skin lotion and water. Mjadu believes the soil helps with her pimples and protects her face from the sun.

Despite intensive and extensive investigations undertaken and reports issued by several government departments several years ago into the health hazards associated with a toxic environment in the Johannesburg region, the situation persists with little to no remedial action taken to date.

Soweto, Johannesburg - Thousands of people face evacuation from greater Johannesburg in the Gauteng province - the economic heartland of South Africa - due to toxic sludge from abandoned gold mines laced with high radiation levels.

Experts warn old mine dumps could cause birth defects and brain disorders
Patience Mjadu can't bear the pimples that dot her face. So, like other women in her impoverished informal settlement, she has resorted to a novel but potentially dangerous form of treatment involving toxic and radioactive mining waste.

In the wasteland that is Johan Kondos’s farm, a lush green field brings hope.“This is what a farm is supposed to look like,” he says, gesturing proudly to his prized lucerne crop, seemingly untainted by the surrounding mining pollution.This lone field, and a few beloved cattle, is all Kondos has left of his farm in Hartbeesfontein in the North West.

One of the most abundant heavy metals in the earth's crust, uranium is a known radiological element and toxin. It is also a major by-product of gold mining, historically one of South Africa's greatest economic undertakings. The country additionally began mining specifically for uranium in 1949, primarily for export to the United States and other nuclear-intensive countries throughout the Cold War. As the conflict between East and West subsided, uranium mining waned, with the gold output from the Witwatersrand reef also declining. Today, hundreds of thousands of tons of uranium by-product sit in mine dumps scattered across the country, with 100 000 tons of the heavy metal in Gauteng's Western Basin and Far Western Basin alone, according to Frank Winde of the North-West University at Potchefstroom.

Uranium has been considered both a radiological and also a heavy metal poison, following calcium in its distribution within the body, i.e. building up in bone, and with the principle target for toxicity being the lung and the kidney. Recently, it has been shown that uranium also targets the brain.

"The 2006 Energy Review merely exacerbated the problem. It acknowledged that the UK would not meet its emissions targets without nuclear, but did almost nothing to address the problem of the reluctance of the market to fund a new generation of plants.

The hazardous mining by-product raises two questions – who’s to blame and who should pay.
The acid mine drainage crisis is going to cost someone a lot of money, but probably not the people who caused it. The “polluter pays” principle was next to impossible to apply to the acid mine drainage problem in a retrospective way, said Marius Keet, chief director for mine water management at the department of water and sanitation.

The Federation for a Sustainable Environment is proud to announce the launch of the booklet titled “Rehabilitation of Mine Contaminated Eco-Systems. A Contribution to a Just Transition to a Low Carbon Economy to Combat Unemployment and Climate Change” by Mariette Liefferink of the Federation for a Sustainable Environment (FSE). The booklet was commissioned by the Alternative Information and Development Centre (AIDC) in collaboration with the Friedrick Ebert Stiftung.

Last week, the coalition of eight civil society and community organisations that has been resisting the proposed coal mine inside a protected area and strategic water source area in Mpumalanga launched further proceedings in the Pretoria High Court.

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